10. Spent more time getting to know myself.

I turned 50 this year. While I’m pretty happy with my life, I wish I had made different choices, both in my personal and professional life. If I could hold on to the knowledge I’ve learned and do it over again, I would have made different choices.

Here are some of things I would change:

I’ll admit it. I shouldn’t have married my first husband. I was approaching 40 and I thought it was time to get married. So I did, and it was a mistake.

I also should have married younger. I really didn’t get out there and date like I should have. Then I could have found someone I loved who...

I put off traveling and didn’t go outside the country until I was 36. I wish I had had more adventures. I’ve probably traveled more than most Americans — because Americans don’t travel much — but I should have started in my 20s when I originally thought about it.

I should have taken a semes...

Remember when you were little and you had your little gaggle of girlfriends? Me neither. I always had a few close friends and continued this trend into adulthood. But here’s the thing.

Once you get into your 40s and 50s, if you don’t have any close friends, you may never have them. I’m find...

This goes along with trying too hard to please guys. For most of my adult life, I worried about whether people liked me. I would change who I was to fit the situation. I was a classic people pleaser, and I did it to the point where I no longer recognized myself.

How exhausting to hide who I...

I graduated college at 21 and started working. My jobs were fine, but if I had to do it over again, I would have taken more chances with my career.

I probably would have gone into broadcast journalism, or worked harder to be a professional singer. I would have done something other than go t...

I’ve always been smart, but somewhere along the line, I stopped taking chances. I doubted myself, and it held me back.

I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s, and while I looked good on paper, I constantly second-guessed myself. Can I really do this? Am I good enough?

Part of...

By the time I turned 50, my bad eating habits were a daily part of my life. It is now hard as hell now to lose weight. My body holds on to that extra padding for dear life.

I wish I had gotten serious about changing my eating habits and exercising. If you’re in your 30s and think it’s diffi...

The weird thing about turning 50 is you start noticing more high school classmates dying.

More people my age are seriously ill because of years of drinking, smoking and eating badly.

I’m trying to do better, but I wish I had taken my health more seriously when I was younger. It’s hard...

I rarely thought about my own mortality until this year. Women in my family tend to live into their 90s, so I took for granted I would have a long life. Then I realized these women took better of themselves than I do. Who knows how many years I’ve shaved off these good genes I inherited w...